Henry sat in his nearly empty Sociology class that morning. It was his first class of the day, and it was the last day of school and students usually came to school to get their report cards, but the students Henry needed to keep track of were not in class.

He left the jacket in his locker and decided he would finish what he needed to after school. The rock fight from the day before had exhausted his body and he was full of cuts and bruises. Thankfully Winter had believed that he was caught up in a middle of a rock fight between her friends because they thought it would be fun. She found it really odd, but she also remembered that her friends could be really odd sometimes.

It felt like a weird day, though, and it was stressing him out. Henry had known all the losers, minus Ben, since he was six years old and knew that they always were in school the last day of school. Not even Mike was in class. The weirdest part was that Vic and Belch's voices weren't fogging up his head. He was wondering if Pennywise's commands for him to accomplish by the end of the month were dismissed. That didn't make any sense, though, could it? Or could the losers have killed the clown and ended up killing themselves while trying to fight the beast?

Henry turned his head back to Mr. Turner who was talking about the year ahead. He also was mentioning programs at the school for summer students. Henry felt like it was a waste of time being in class on the last day.

The sounds of someone walking outside of the classroom caught Henry's attention. He turned his head towards the door, and to his surprise he saw Winter walk by the classroom.

'WINTER?!' Henry thought. 'What's she doing here?!'

Henry raised his hand in the air as Mr. Turner kept talking, "I need to use the washroom."

Before Mr. Turner could respond, Henry got up from his desk, grabbed his backpack, and went out the classroom. He could feel the ache from his bruises on his stomach, but he was too determined to know why Winter was in the school when she was suppose to be home getting her fluids.

Henry saw Winter down the long hallway turn the corner into the next hallway. Henry walked fast to catch up to her. Once he was in the next hallway, she turned into the other hallway. It looked like she was heading to his locker. Since the class was almost done, she was probably going to wait for him there.

Henry turned towards the hallway where his locker was, and there was Winter. She was wearing his Guns N Roses t-shirt that she would sleep in and she was wearing white shorts. He loved seeing her walk around in his shirts, as she always said that they smelled like him and whenever she felt upset or stressed, his aroma on the clothes would make her smile.

"Winter?" Henry asked as he walked up closer to her. "What are you doing here?"

She turned around to face him and smiled happily to see him. Her smile made him smile, too. "I just thought that since today is the last day of school, maybe you would like to ditch the rest of the day and we could go..."

Henry's locker door slammed open and the clown was there with claws the size of a grizzle bears claws. Winter turned around to see what happened behind her, and within seconds the clown pierced her stomach with Its claws going in deeper than they did in the sewers and sliced her stomach.

Winter made a painful inhale.

"NO!" Henry yelled as he ran up to her and caught her in his arms before she could hit the ground. He went down to his knees as he kept her in his arms. He hyperventilated as blood drizzled out from the corner of her mouth and she stared up at Henry.

Henry began to cry as he held down her wounds with his hand trying to stop the bleeding, but the wounds were too deep this time. There was a puddle of blood underneath them, and her blood was covering his clothes

She looked up into his eyes, "I'm scared..." She looked up towards the light in the ceiling, "Henry... Protect me..."

Her body went limp in his arms and she continued to stare up at the ceiling with no movement and the wasn't breathing.

"NO! NO! NO!" Henry cried. "Baby, please!"

Henry felt his whole life being torn from inside of him as he looked at her lifeless face and kept his blood-covered hand on her face as he stroked her cheek. The past nine months they had spent together had passed by his mind like a movie as he held her in his arms.

The clown laughed in the locker as It began to crawl out.

Henry looked up at the clown with tears streaming from his eyes more than they had ever streamed from his eyes in his life.

"Henry, I need you to finish it today!" the clown said to him. "Look down!"

Henry looked back down in his arms and Winter wasn't there anymore. There was no puddle of blood and nothing there that proved that she was there or died in his arms other than the memory flashing in his mind.

He didn't know if what just happened really did happen or not.

He looked back up to the clown as he stayed on the floor.

"Finish it!"

Then the clown was gone and the only thing in his sight was the jacket hanging in his locker.

Henry crawled up against the wall across from his locker and hugged his knees to his chest as he thought about Winter dying in his arms and continued to cry and tried to sooth himself. It was the worst sight he had ever witnessed. It was only a few seconds that passed by, however it felt like minutes to him.

His cheeks full of tears, he got up to his feet and went over to his locker and grabbed the jacket.

Henry put on the jacket.

He was still alone. Vic and Belch weren't there, but he still felt the force from the jacket take over him and he felt more scared and angry than he ever did in his life. This was the rage Ace felt when he knew there was no more time left and he needed to finish what he needed to do to save his girlfriend.

He ran towards the doors and ran outside.

To Henry's surprise, Eddie was standing there alone at the bottom of the stairs.

Eddie looked up at Henry and continued to stand there.

Henry didn't waste any time. He ran over to Eddie and threw him to the ground.

Eddie let out a yelp as he landed on his back and Henry climbed on top of him. Eddie's heart raced in panic, but he noticed the tear stains down Henry's face.

Henry pulled the knife out from his back pocket and flipped the blade out.

"THIS IS IT, SHRIMP!" Henry held the blade to Eddie's left cheek and poked the blade in that it pierced his skin a little bit. "I'M GOING TO SHOVE THIS KNIFE THREW YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!"

Eddie began to have a hard time breathing (he needed his puffer) as he grabbed onto Henry's arm and pushed his arm so the blade couldn't go in any further.

"NOW!" shouted a voice form behind Henry.

Ben, Bill, Stan and Mike grabbed onto Henry's shoulders from behind and pulled as hard as they could.

"FUCK OFF!" Henry yelled as they all began ripping the jacket off of him. Henry tried to resist as he continued to sit on Eddie's legs

Bev came up in front of Henry, standing by Eddie's head, and she had the turtle in her hands. As she approached closer with the turtle, Henry began to retreat and his grip on the jacket weakened.

"GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!" he yelled at Bev, scared of the turtle's force.

Bev put the turtle on Eddie's chest, and It was so close to Henry, that he completely lost grip on holding off the other guys tearing off the jacket.

The jacket slipped off of him.

As the turtle laid on Eddie's chest and Henry continued to sit on his legs, both Eddie and Henry saw a bright light and felt a ripple from the turtle over-take them.

Henry, in his adult years, laid in his bed as Eddie, who was also an adult, sat by his side to chat with him. They were both in either their forty's or fifty's, and they both felt at peace with the situation that they were in, however they couldn't think of the memory that put them in the situation as it wasn't a memory that existed yet for the teenagers looking through their adult eyes.

Eddie had all his brown hair and he was wearing a blue buttoned up shirt. He still looked like a guy that wanted to dress classy and clean. He looked like himself in his teens, but older, and he had expressive lines in his cheeks and forehead.

Eddie saw Henry as an adult. He had tattoos covering his arms and one on his neck. He wasn't balding, but he had chosen to shave his head. He looked like his teen self, but he also had lines in his forehead and his cheeks. He still had that intense look in his eyes as he always did as a teen.

As Henry looked up at Eddie sitting there, he wasn't feeling very well. He was feeling sick and he knew Eddie knew everything that he had been shown by the turtle in his twenties (you'll find out about that in Chapter 2). At this time, in this flash forward, teenage Henry didn't know what the turtle will eventually show him, but he was peaceful with the outcome.

"I've always tried to protect her from the darkness, but when she does fall into the darkness, your friendship is strong enough to take her out of it..." Henry said suddenly. His teenage self watching from his adult eyes didn't know what he was talking about.

Eddie, watching through his adult eyes, didn't know what Henry was talking about either, but his adult self knew, yet Eddie as a teenager couldn't go into that vault of memories to understand what was going on. He just understood that the vision that the turtle showed Henry in this twenties is what the turtle will show him later in the future as well, and it had created a bond between their adult-selves.

Bill had pushed Henry off of Eddie.

Both Eddie and Henry stared at each other as they were back in the present.

Eddie was breathing heavily and sat up as he grabbed onto his inhaler and inhaled.

"What the fuck was that?!" Eddie said as he stared at Henry. He looked at his friends, "Did you guys see that too?!"

They all stared at him confused.

"See what?" Stan asked him.

Henry continued to back away from everyone as the flash was fresh in his mind. He didn't know what that was either. He looked towards the group of guys who were looking from Eddie to Henry. They had thrown the jacket on the ground. Then Henry looked over to the turtle that was on the grass, crawling up slowly to him.

Henry thought of Winter being killed at the locker. He panicked and wanted to see if she was okay at home in her bed. He quickly got up on his feet and went running.

Winter and Richie sat on the grass in the Barrens as she drank some of her calorie-full nutrition drinks and put plastic wrap around Richie's ribcage so his burn wouldn't get worse when they went into the sewers. Any open wounds on him, she patched up and sealed tightly with the plastic wrap. She was going to do it to the rest of them when they arrived. She had already done it to herself, covering the sore on her hand where the IV had been attached to for the past month, also covering the healing claw marks on her stomach, the scratches on her arm underneath her sweater, and tried awkwardly to seal the knife slice from Ace's knife on her hand. She figured if she covered all the cuts tight enough with the plastic wrap, it would keep them from getting any bacteria on them.

Before her and Richie left her house, they had stayed while the nurse checked up on her and injected her with her medications.

When the nurse asked where the washroom was, Winter took the opportunity to grab her backpack and take some of the nurses supplies: gauze, rubbing alcohol, stitches, a needle, syringe, and any type of medicines she thought might be needed if someone gets really hurt. She tried to only take a few things so the nurse wouldn't realize her supplies were missing, and Winter wasn't completely sure what to take, but she loaded up with whatever she thought could have been necessary.

Richie and her sat by the pond where they could see the sewage building from across the lake where they would be going in to finish the clown.

Winter dabbed some rubbing alcohol on a cut on Richie's arm from a rock hitting him the day before. She was going to wrap it up in plastic wrap as well.

Winter looked up into Richie's eyes as he remained quiet, "Why are you so quiet? Are you nervous?"

Richie shook his head, "Just a lot on my mind this month."

"Is everything okay?"

Richie remained quiet, thinking of what to say, but then he spoke up, "I feel like I'm changing, and I don't know how I feel about it."

Winter looked at him non-judgementally, "We're still young. We're going to keep changing. Is there something in particular that you don't like?"

"I don't want to talk about it..." Richie said.

Winter let it go and continued to take care of his cut.

After a few minutes, Richie spoke up again, "Winter... Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Say you and your friends have always liked chicken sandwiches your whole life..." Richie began.

Winter looked up at him, not knowing where this conversation was going, but he looked really serious, so she listened whole-heartedly.

Richie continued, "Like... all your friends love chicken sandwiches, and you thought you loved chicken sandwiches, too. Even just last month, in May, you saw this nice looking chicken sandwich and for that moment, as you looked at it, you wanted it, too. But then something happened this month... You saw a beef sandwich, and you think you're realizing that you prefer beef sandwiches over chicken sandwiches, but society says you need to like chicken sandwiches, because if you like beef sandwiches, you're not normal."

Winter tilted her head to the side, "Why would society care what type of sandwich you like?"

"Because people are assholes!" Richie said.

Winter bit her lip as she realized that whatever was on Richie's mind had nothing to do with sandwiches, but he really needed to talk.

"Does it matter what society thinks? If people are assholes, why would their opinions matter?" she asked.

Richie shrugged, "If all your friends are normal and like the chicken sandwich, but you would rather eat the beef sandwich, they might not want to be your friends anymore."

Winter half smiled at him reassuringly as she looked him up and down in thought, "If they are truly your friends, they won't care what type of sandwich you like. The friends you have, Richie, care about you, including me. I don't care what type of sandwich you want to eat, and they wouldn't care either. You're not defined by the type of sandwich you want."

Richie smiled a tad bit before he looked really sad and wanted to hold back tears. "Okay, maybe..." He looked down, "But what if you don't want to like beef sandwiches, and you always thought you liked chicken sandwiches. Then all of a sudden your body is confusing your beliefs regarding what sandwich you really like?"

Winter looked concerned at him as he was trying to hold back tears. She realized that whatever was bothering him was serious. "Richie, I know this can't be about sandwiches, but whatever it's about, it's okay. It seems like your two choices are either to go with the norm and pretend to like chicken sandwiches like everyone else does, but you'll have to be okay with not doing what you really feel is right for you... Or you can go with what you really want and eat beef sandwiches and be true to yourself. Either way, the choice is yours and no ones opinions on what you like should matter to you. And, also, no matter how many people out there like chicken sandwiches, there are still a lot of people who prefer beef sandwiches, too. Some people might even like both types of sandwiches. Whatever it is, Richie, you're normal."

He spoke quietly as he held back tears and looked down, "It's just ever since I saw that beef sandwich, I don't feel normal anymore..."

Winter scooted up closer to him, "Hey..." she whispered as she put her arm around his neck, "Hey... Richie?" he looked back up to her with a tear running down his cheek, "It's okay..." She felt really concerned as she never seen this side to him before.

"I just want to feel normal again..." he breathed in as he continued to cry.

She continued to look into his eyes that were holding back a secret that he wanted to talk about so badly but couldn't say it out-loud. Winter had a feeling it might have had to do with his sexuality, but she didn't want to ask if she was wrong about it, or if it was something he still didn't want to talk about. She put both of her arms around his shoulders and hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and cried into her shoulder.

"I just want to be normal, Winter..." he cried again.

She rubbed his back, trying to stay strong but seeing Richie break down like this made her eyes fill up with tears. She held them back for him. "You are normal, Sweetie... No matter what you like - you can like chicken, beef, pork, salmon, cheese or vegetable sandwiches and it doesn't change who you are. Your friends will still love you, because we love who Richie is. We don't care what type of sandwiches you like."

Richie looked back up at her and wiped his tears, "I can't believe you think I'm crying over sandwiches."

Winter let out a tiny giggle and smiled reassuringly at him as she rubbed his shoulder, "If you want to talk about anything, you can talk to me, okay? I don't want to see you like this. You deserve to be happy with whatever you think is right for you."

Richie nodded and hugged her one last time for listening to him.

When they parted, they heard rustling through the trees and someone running closer.

Henry ran out from the forest and fell to his knees from tripping over a branch. He was panicked. He was getting back up in a hurry to continue to run towards Winter's street.

"HENRY!" Winter shouted over to him.

Henry looked over to her and Richie sitting by the lake. He continued to breathe heavily as he looked at them.

"Why are you here?" he asked with tears filling up in his eyes. He looked over at Richie as he continued to walk over, "GET AWAY FROM HER!"

Winter looked at Richie and nodded for him to go. She knew he didn't want him around her, fearing that the clown would kill her for hanging with one of It's hitlist victims.

Richie quickly got up to his feet and ran over a few feet so they could have a moment to talk.

Henry looked emotionally drained as he went up to her and fell to his knees again and hugged her tightly. He cried into her shoulder and held her so protectively. Everything he had seen that day, with her dying in his arms, made him breakdown as he held her.

"Henry?" Winter put her arms around his shoulders. "What happened?"

"I can't do it! I can't do what the clown wants me to do!" He cried as he looked at her with tears running down his face, "We need to leave now! We can pack up quickly, take my mom's car, and just drive! We can go live with Robert in Pittsburg! Or we can just go anywhere! I have enough money to pay rent for a few months! If we stay here, It's going to try and take you away from me!"

Winter continued to listen to him as he broke down, her heart breaking for the turmoil he must have been going through.

"I don't need to finish school! I know enough about cars that I can just get a job at a mechanic shop! You can study for your GED, and then you can go to college while I support us! I have enough money from working with my dad in the summer time! We just need to leave Derry! I thought I lost you when you went missing... then I was thinking I was going to lose you while you were recovering in the hospital... and today the clown was trying to fuck with me and killed you right in front of me and you died in my arms! The clown wants me to do things that I can't do!"

Winter looked at him with her eyes wide. She couldn't believe the tears and pain that was coming out from him. This was not just pain from being tricked by the clown today, but this pain had been building up ever since she went missing and the clown told him to kill her friends.

Bev, Ben, Bill, Mike, Eddie and Stan appeared where Henry had fallen from out of the bushes. They all looked over at Henry and her talking. Bev was holding the turtle and Stan was holding a long stick with the jacket hanging on the other end of it. None of them wanted to touch it.

As Winter hugged Henry, she motioned for them to walk away so her and Henry could continue talking. They had walked over to meet Richie as her and Henry continued their talk.

"I'm so scared, Winter! I'm sorry I haven't been honest, but I couldn't! I can't even tell you anything, 'cause if I do, It'll kill us!" Henry cried.

Winter looked at him and wiped his tears with her thumb, "You don't need to tell me anything, baby. I know everything. I know about the clown giving you the jacket, It wanting you to kill the others to save me, and I know you're not you when you wear the jacket."

"You know everything?" he breathed heavily.

"I do... And look..." she brought his hand and put it to her heart, "I'm still here... I'm alive... My heart is still beating."

Henry took a moment to feel her heart beat. He loved her so much, every part of her.

"I'm still getting better everyday. And, Henry, believe me, I would love to run away with you! I would love to say fuck it, and just leave, just you and me forever! But when I was in the sewers, It wouldn't let me leave Derry. I still don't think It would let me leave. If It's still alive, It's always going to be with us. I know about It taking Robert as a baby and leaving a bit of Itself inside of you..." She rubbed the back of his neck as his tears had stopped, "And I still love every part of you. Even the part of you that's from It. But I don't want us to suffer the rest of our lives with that thing always with us. Even if we can't see It if we leave Derry, It will still be in your anger, your sadness, and will be in the back of your mind. I don't want you to worry everyday if I'm okay or if It's somehow going to find me and kill me."

Henry wiped his face with his hand, "I don't know what we can..." he looked over and noticed her black backpack full of medical supplied. He grabbed it and pulled it over to him, "What is this?" Then he looked across the lake and noticed the sewage building. He looked at her and became very serious, "No! NO! Winter, you're not..."

Winter matched his seriousness as it dawned on him what she's going to do, "Henry, there's no other way out of this other than to go in and end It! The only way out is to go in!"

"Winter, no, you can't go back in there!" he said seriously, "There's no way I'm letting you risk your life like that!"

"Babe, we're risking our lives everyday by not going in and finishing this! We are safe when we're together! If we go in, we can protect each other!"

He blew out air as he was unsure, "Winter, I have an image in my head of our lives in twenty years! If we go in there and risk ourselves getting killed, it changes what the next twenty years will look like!"

"Even if we don't go in there, the next five-ten-twenty-sixtie years is going to be affected! We can defeat It - all nine of us!"

"I've been trying to kill them! They're not going to want to talk to me!" Henry said.

"They know it wasn't you in the jacket, Henry! They have been trying to protect you! If they weren't, they would have tried killing you with the rocks yesterday, but they care about you and want you to defeat It with them - with us!" Winter kissed his lips slowly. She put her forehead to his forehead, "I want the next twenty years to be happy and free from this clown bullshit, and we'll need to do this to make our lives normal again, Henry."

Henry looked from her eyes to the sewage building as he turned pale and looked like he could have thrown up from worry.

He sighed, "You gotta stay really close to me. You're still recovering too and have barely ate anything in a month, so you can't put all your energy in trying to kill It. You need to stay low and let the rest of us kill It."

Winter still wanted to help as much as possible, but she understood Henry's concern for her health and wellbeing.

She nodded.